abstract research image
  1. Home
  2. Research & Innovation
  3. Research
  4. Engagement & Impact
  5. Engagement Resources

Engagement Resources

Research Engagement Resources

We support research engagement and collaboration which addresses societal challenges and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Research engagement is an active partnership between researchers and stakeholders (the people who will be most interested in and affected by the issues it addresses), in the creation of new knowledge and practices. 

Engaged research is a type of research engagement which is designed collaboratively by researchers and stakeholders (particularly people whose voices don’t feature very often in research), to maximise societal impact. 

We hope you will find the TU Dublin Research Engagement Framework useful in planning your research engagement. We are also developing checklists for the different stages of the framework. We are gradually adding these to the Research Engagement Framework Checklists section further down this page - please click on the plus sign to see the checklists. 

Access the full framework by clicking the thumbnail image below and/or watch the video introduction. 

Image of the cover of the TU Dublin Research Engagement Framework. It includes an image of 6 abstracted figures all connecting to each other through a network of lines. It include the TU Dublin and the tagline 'Creating a Better World Together'.

 

Autumn 2026: applications now open for digital badges and a micro-credential in Community Engaged Research, and 2 digital badges in Community Engaged Research and Learning. 

TU Dublin’s Research Engagement and Impact Office has developed exciting new continuing professional development opportunities, for staff, PhD students and linked community partners to develop their collaborative research practice, as part of the TOGETHERNESS Erasmus+ project.

Applications are now open for our new online Digital Badges and Micro-credential in Community Engaged Research (CER). 3 new digital badges will run in semester 2 of 2026/7: Identifying and supporting collaborative research partners; Collaboratively Designing Research; Communicating and sharing Engaged Research. Interested participants can apply for one or more of these digital badges, or the full Micro-credential (which is made up of 5 badges plus a final reflective assignment). The remaining two digital badges will be advertised in spring 2027, and will run in autumn 2027. The closing date for applications is 12 November. 

Applications are also open for 2 new digital badges for lecturers, on Community Engaged Research and Learning in the curriculum. These are for lecturers who want to build real-life projects into their teaching, in collaboration with community organisations, in response to their ideas. Our colleagues in Université Libre de Bruxelles will run these digital badges online, in English, in semester 2 of 2026/7. The badges are Understanding Community Engaged Research and Learning, and Planning Community Engaged Research and Learning. You can find out more and apply for those badges, which will run in semester 2 of 2026/7, through the Community-Engaged Research digital badges application information. The closing date for applications is 30 November.

Other resources:

TU Dublin has an Engaged Research Network for staff and PhD students. The network's podcast about engaged research is available on Spotify. 

We have a new pilot Partner Explorer for Engaged Research (PEER) portal, to help build engaged research relationships.  We are delighted to feature the research interests of community partners, TU Dublin staff and research students who are interested in collaboration on research to address societal challenges and goals.  

We can help you to build your research engagement capacity, whether you are a TU Dublin colleague or a community or statutory organisation, social enterprise, or an industry partner wanting to support positive societal change through collaboration. We provide a range of supports including workshops, mentoring, networking events, resources, tailored assistance, and drop-in sessions. 

For more information on any of the above, please contact Dr Catherine Bates, Research Engagement Lead, at engagementandimpact@tudublin.ie.

We are developing a series of checklists based on the Research Engagement Framework, and adding them as they are ready. 

Please do revisit this page later to find additional checklists. 

At a national level there are very useful resources on doing engaged research produced by Campus Engage, primarily aimed at university partners – see for example their recently updated ‘how-to guides’ and case studies here.

There are also useful resources available from The Wheel, for example a research proposal form for a university partner to clarify why they might want to partner with a community organisation. For community partners they have produced a helpful research planning template, and sample memorandum of understanding. 

There is a wealth of resources relating to Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research available from the PPI Ignite Network - these resources are relevant to all kinds of engaged research, even though they focus on health and social sciences. One good example is the Charities & Researchers Partnering Guide from Health Research Charities Ireland and the PPI Ignite Network.